Aaj Tak honchos have finally undertaken the much-expected restructuring following the exit of its senior staffers, including Ashutosh, Mrityunjay Jha and Prabal Pratap Singh.

As part of this restructuring exercise, Associate Executive Producer, Amitabh, who was heading Tez Channel, has been made the new head for Delhi Aaj Tak, the upcoming channel on Delhi and NCR, which is scheduled for launch next month.

Senior producer Shailendra Kumar Jha, who was deputy to Amitabh, will now look after Tez channel.

The exit of Deputy Editor, Prabal Pratap Singh, who was holding the dual charge of Metro Bureau Head and in-charge of Special Investigating Team (SIT), has resulted in changes in both Metro Bureau and SIT. Senior special correspondent, Deepak Sharma, who was second in command in SIT, has been elevated to head this team in which Neeraj Gupta from Metro Bureau has been included. Deputy Executive Producer, Vivek Awasthi, has been promoted as head of the Metro Bureau.

Confirming these changes, Aaj Tak News Director, Q W Naqvi, told exchange4media that the current restructuring exercise in which second line staffers had been elevated, was in line with the clearly defined and structured hierarchy in the organisation.

“We groom talent and give them the chance to grow. It is because of this policy that we have a constant pool of talent from which even the rival channels draw their strength. But then because of our capacity to groom talent and because of the well-layered structure in the organisation, we are able to tackle any crisis situation,” he added.

Meanwhile, as part of the restructuring exercise at Aaj Tak, an independent crime bureau has been set up, which will be headed by Shams Tahir Khan, presenter of the crime show ‘Jurm’. Said Naqvi, “Earlier, crime reporting was part of programming and there were two teams, while one was looking after day-to-day crime stories, the other was overseeing crime shows like ‘Jurm’, ‘Khauf’ and ‘Hatyara Kaun’. But now we have combined the two teams to bring synergy and clear focus for better efficiency”.

In another restructuring related exercise, Sanjay Pathak, who was formally looking after the Research Bureau, has been officially designated head of this bureau. Following the implementation of restructuring plan, Aaj Tak staffers are to be rewarded with elevated designations and salary hike. The appraisal letters are expected this week.

Meanwhile, in addition to these senior level promotions, Aaj Tak will be shopping for middle level talent in the market to further beef up its team. Naqvi said that the group was looking for senior producers, producers and special correspondents.

Also, since the launch of new city-specific news channel – Delhi Aaj Tak – is drawing near, a dedicated team for the channel is being put in place. Already some staffers from the Metro Bureau like Promilla Dixit, Joya Madhusudan, and Neha Bhatnagar have been roped in besides some recruitment done from outside. Now more junior level recruitments will be done from outside and also from TV Today’s Media Institute.